Sunday, 10 May 2015

This post is dedicated to the only person in this world whom I
trust blindly ,no questions asked .Yes , she is a an expert at everything -she
is my Mom !

She was the one
who taught herself to speak English and French when she found herself in
a foreign land ,even though she had only possessed a basic hindi medium
education .She was the one who taught us to continuously work upon ourselves
and to never give up when faced with adversities .So when her rolling pin for
rolling out chapatis was left behind , she made do with an empty beer bottle
(!) for rolling out her perfect chapatis .Talk of innovation !

A pure vegetarian
from a rural background ,she learnt the art of baking and fine dining etiquette
in order to continuously move with the times and re-invent herself , never mind
a few burnt cakes initially !We ate with all gusto as to us that was straight
from our super Mom's food factory and anything that came out from that factory
tasted really great !

From taking care
of my skin through home remedies likebesan
ka Ubtan and chandan facepacksto
hair care with hot oil massages andreetha
, amla shikakai pastes , all my initial exposure to beauty and
self-care came from my expert -my Mom .To this day I too give the same lessons
in hygiene and self –care to my teenaged daughter because what held good for me
should hold good for her too .Isn’t it ?

Most of all my
mother taught us to persevere in our endeavors , never losing sight of our
goals yet to enjoy ourselves .She was a strict disciplinarian too ,so every
last bit of food on the plate had to be finished off. Not that we ever
complained !

For her, all her
off springs deserved the same treatment - male and females were treated alike
.So my brother too had to learn basic cooking and cleaning when we girls had
finished learning .This proved so handy in our later life that we never had any
problems in adjusting anywhere - be it the hostel or the post marital home
where I had to start my household work from scratch .

Even today ,
though I am a doctor I turn to my mother for her advice when my kids have an
upset stomach .Because when I was a kid she was my pediatrician and handled
everything effectively from a sore throat ( alum and warm water gargles )
to a colicky abdomen ( asafoetida packs on the belly).She has always been my
pillar of strength whenever I was in doubt or trouble.